"Under certain circumstances, I think—yes."
"And as the circumstances stand now at this moment?"
The Archbishop paused, and looked long at the Prime Minister before answering.
"How do they stand?" he inquired.
II
That evening when Jenifer returned home the Archbishop was waiting her arrival. The door of his private library stood ajar. "Come in, my dear," he called, hearing her step in the corridor, "come in; I wish to speak to you."
She entered with a flushed face. "I wanted to speak to you, father," she said.
He saw that she was come charged for the delivery of her soul, and perceiving what a strategic advantage it would give him to hear the story first from her own lips, he waived his prior claim. "Very well, my dear," he replied, "for the next hour I am free, and at your disposal."
"It may take longer than that," she warned him; "I have something to tell you that seems to me almost terrible."
"Anything wrong?"